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WVII-TV
WVII-TV, ch. 7, is the ABC-affiliated TV station for Bangor, Maine. It's transmitter is located south of East Eddington near the Penobscot & Hancock County line. Owned by Rockfleet Broadcasting, the station is sister to primary FOX & secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate WFVX-LP. The 2 stations share studios on Target Industrial Circle in Bangor. WFVX does not broadcast a DT signal of it's own & as a result, is carried on WVII's second DT subchannel. Via cable, WVII serves as the default ABC affiliate for the Presque Isle TV market. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Friends & Judge Judy. DTV The station's DT ch. is multiplexed: WVII-DT WVII-DT broadcasts on DT ch. 14. In 2009, WVII-TV will remain on ch. 7 when the analog to DT transition is complete. History The station first took to the air on October 15, 1965 under the call sign of WEMT. The current call letters, WVII-TV, were adopted in 1976. WVII is the only TV station in Bangor to have never switched it's network affiliation. It's also 1 of only 2 stations in Bangor to broadcast in stereo. During the mid-1990s, the station suffered a failure of it's transmitter due to a fire. This knocked the station off-the-air during a Bangor Hydro-Electric advertisement. It would not return to full power broadcasting for several months. However, the station was available on cable through a temporary transmitter. TCI Cable & WVII had facilities that shared a rear property line on Target Industrial Circle. The cable company ran a line from their building to WVII allowing the station to continue normal operations while purchasing a replacement transmitter. WVII became the first station to broadcast in stereo in the mid-1990s as a result of the new transmitter. Cause of the fire was later determined to be a snake seeking winter warmth which caused a short circuit. In 2000, Rockfleet Broadcasting made it's first venture into UHF broadcasting by leasing channel 30, a former secondary PBS station. The station changed it's call letters to WCKD & network affiliation to UPN. In 2003, after an attempt to affiliate WCKD with FOX failed, Rockfleet purchased a new station. The station was assigned the call letters WFVX-LP, was set up to broadcast on ch. 22 & received the FOX affiliation. In October of 2006, WVII made national news in a New York Times article that quoted General Manager Michael Palmer as saying that when "Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories." "Until then," he added. "No more." Mr. Palmer said he wanted no more stories broadcast on global warming because: "a) we do local news, b) the issue evolved from hard science into hard politics & c) despite what you may have heard from the mainstream media, this science is far from conclusive." Mr. Palmer said in his e-mail message to his operations manager & 2 women who served as a news anchor & a reporter that he placed "global warming stories in the same category as 'the killer African bee scare' from the 1970s or, more recently, the Y2K scare when everyone’s computer was going to self-destruct." WVII's contract with Time Warner Cable to offer ABC programming in HD was established @ the start of September 2007 & will expire in 2011. In addition to being offered for free over-the-air, WVII-DT can be seen on digital cable ch. 708. In August of 2008, the station aired 3 New England Patriots pre-season games. News operation WVII has always had local newscasts but they have never had the same level of success as the 2 older stations in the market, WABI-TV & WLBZ. Due to this fact, WVII has long been ranked @ a distant 3rd in the ratings. Originally, the station's newscasts were known as News 7. At some point in time, the title switched to ABC 7 News & then to the current Your Bangor News. Today, the station produces local newscasts on the weeknights @ 6, 10 & 11. All 3 broadcasts are simulcasted on conservative talk radio station WNZS-1340 AM. Except for the sports reports, WFVX's 10 & WVII's 11 PM news are taped earlier in the evening. There are also local weather cut-ins during the weekday editions of Good Morning America. The WVII & WFVX news team is made up of 5 people as WVII outsources weather forecasts to AccuWeather in State College, Pennsylvania. News team *Tony Consiglio - weeknights @ 6 & 11 **reporter & producer *Cindy Michaels - weeknights @ 6 & 10 **reporter & producer *Sean Cryan - sports director *Carolyn Callahan - reporter *Aaron Jackson - reporter AccuWeather Meteorologists *Jim Kosek (AMS Seal of Approval) - weeknights *Jack Boston - weekday morning cut-ins *Bernie Rayno - fill-in *Matt Benz - fill-in Former personalities *Amy Erickson - anchor & reporter **now weekend anchor & reporter @ WABI-TV *Jan Smith - News Director seen on weeknights @ 6 *Steve Lacy - anchor **now weekend morning anchor & reporter @ WCVB-TV *Amy McHugh - anchor, reporter & producer *Rick Douglas - anchor, reporter, producer & editor *Ali Carlson - weekend anchor & reporter *Chris White - producer, reporter & anchor **now producer @ WRGB *Ted Shapiro - Chief Meteorologist **now same position @ WAGM-TV *Charlie Lopresti - meteorologist & reporter **now Chief Meteorologist @ WGME-TV *Erin Coakley - meteorologist *Rob Nucatola - meteorologist *Chuck Whitney - Sports Director *Ted Lombardi - Sports Director *Eric Frede - Sports Director **now @ NESN *Tim Baier - Sports Director **now sports reporter @ News 14 Carolina *Nate Long - Sports Director **now sports producer in Boston @ FOX Sports Net *Rich Chrampanis - sports **now Sports Director in Myrtle Beach *Ryan Welch - weekend sports anchor **now weekday sports reporter @ News 14 Carolina *Elgin Traylor - sports reporter *Adam Shub - reporter *Kate (Barker) Shub - reporter **now @ WGME-TV *Brian Sullivan - reporter *Marci Natale - now @ WRGB *Mike Avery External links *WVII-TV/DT "ABC 7" *ABC